Here's a cheap fix for road spray: cut a long (8-12", depending upon the length of your down tube) oval about 3-4 ' wide out of the side of a 2-liter soda bottle. Poke two holes near the top and two near the botto. Zip-tie it to your down tube in the area of your water bottle cage. Voila! Your water bottle stays grime-free, and now more rear-ward spray from your front wheel.

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Can't offer much specifics as to what type of fender to recommend, only that when I finally got my road bike I had the LBS put fenders on it (metal) and am EVER so glad not to have the inverted skunk stripe (black instead of white) running up & down my back when I ride in rain! :-)

I happened to find the length of the front fender to catch on the front of my shoes when turning, so had the fender "trimmed" a bit so I wouldn't have that problem anymore.

Don

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I'm not a bike expert by any stretch of the imagination ... so others might have better info that me....however... my 2 cents ...

I took a quick look at the bike you have (the Marin website is not bad, it let you look at previous year models ... nice). The specs on the bike did not have the information I was seeking regarding fender installation.

However, if you look closely at the photo (of what appears to be a very nice looking bike), you can see that the front fork and rear seatstay (the angled part of the frame that goes to the rear wheel) and both dropouts (where the wheel axle goes into) all have built in eyelets. These could be for pannier bags ... but I think they are for fenders. If so ... all the better as you'll have more fender choices.

As for the fenders themselves, besides having to choose between plastic or metal, there is the actual fender length you'll want to consider.

Some fenders go partial way on the wheel. This tends to work on the rear ok, as it stops most of the water from coming back to you ... though if someone is riding behind you they get a lot of spray.

With the front ... if you don't get full cover fenders ... you still get splashed.

I guess in general I'd recommend getting full coverage fenders, as they work best.

Except - sometimes a bike with fenders will not fit in some bike racks/carriers well. Most times its not an issue...but take a look at your bike carrier just in case. (My wife used to have a bike with fenders that didn't fit in our truck carrier.)

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